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January 2, 2008
Wirtanen 'shining the light of truth' on LTC
HE'S BAACK.
Lowell attorney Tom Wirtanen has ended his self-imposed exile from the Mill City's civic life, returning to the scene just in time for the Lowell Telecommunications Corp.'s search for a new executive director to replace Robert Haigh, who resigned Nov. 15 amid speculation that the timing of his departure was forced.
Wirtanen resigned from the LTC board of directors with great flourish in February, irate that his fellow board members were not following his advice on what those of us in the Fourth Estate refer to as "boobgate."
His LTC departure came shortly after Wirtanen ostentatiously quit the city Election Commission to protest City Manager Bernie Lynch's decision to stop providing health benefits to board and commission members, a practice Lynch said violated state law.
Wirtanen lately has unleashed a torrent of e-mails and faxes to LTC content producers and staff revisiting his complaints from February and beseeching his recipients to force out all the board members who refused to heed his advice and to fire Haigh from his nearly $83,000 per year job sooner.
In an interview this week, he had particular scorn for Middlesex Register of Deeds Richard Howe Jr., a member of the LTC board's executive committee who Wirtanen referred to as "the crown prince."
Howe's intervention back in February derailed Wirtanen's attempt to get his way with "boobgate".
There is some thought that Wirtanen intends to seek re-election to the LTC board or will apply to be the organization's next executive director.
Wirtanen said he is "very, very unlikely" to attend the Jan. 16 annual meeting during which both issues will be decided, however. He added that neither he nor his documentary videos will grace LTC again unless some significant changes are made.
"I would love to contribute down there, but things have to happen first," he said. "If it happens on the 16th, and the producers, the members and the staff stand up like I did, like I led by example, and take it back, then just maybe I'll go back there and help them clean up the mess. If not, then they have only themselves to blame, don't they? Then they have no complaint, because they didn't stand up. All I'm doing is shining the light of truth upon them."
HOWE SAID Wirtanen's light of truth is unlikely to do him much good -- at least if he intends to return to the LTC board as an elected member.
According to the organization's bylaws, Howe said, the board nominating committee puts forward a slate of candidates upon which LTC content producers then take an up or down vote. Wirtanen's name is not on that slate, which is now full, Howe said.
"It's my understanding of the bylaws that it's only in the absence of a full slate that nominations are allowed from the floor," he added.
Howe also said he has no hard feelings toward Wirtanen.
"He's to be pitied," Howe said. "He's crying out for attention."
As for being the LTC "crown prince," Howe said will not actively seek to be the organization's next president and board chairman, but if he is nominated, he would not refuse it.
If elected, Howe might be walking into an ethical dilemma. Should an elected official be influencing and overseeing the board that controls local access public television and its programming?
And isn't Howe up for re-election soon as Middlesex registrar?
SENATE PRESIDENT Therese Murray isn't known for her warm, outgoing personality.
So it was quite a shock when she charged into the press gallery during a holiday party bearing a case of champagne and mingled with members of the Fourth Estate for a glass of bubbly.
She even chided Senate Ways and Means Chairman Steven Panagiotakos, a Lowell Democrat, for showing up to the shindig empty-handed.
COULD IT be?
The wait for the much-anticipated decision on whether to appoint state Rep. Dave Nangle, D-Lowell, to the lofty position of Sergeant at Arms could soon be over.
House Speaker Sal DiMasi said he would hold off on the appointment until the House and Senate were back in formal session. That session begins Jan. 2.
THE LENGTHS to which Panagiotakos will go to win state money for his constituents were tested this summer by a $500,000 grant he helped win for the Lowell Parks & Conservation Trust for the Concord River Greenway.
In an effort to convince state Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles to see the value of the project, Panagiotakos said during the grant's award ceremony, he and his top aide, D.J. Corcoran, had to go water skiing with Bowles in the Boston Harbor. The trip was made on Bowles' boat, Panagiotakos said.
Panagiotakos made clear that he and Corcoran never actually engaged in the sport themselves, but he credited Bowles' skills. ("He was even up on one ski.")
Bowles in turn credited Panagiotakos and Nangle, whose district is home to the Greenway, for being "relentless advocates for your city."
FRESH FROM his spirited but unsuccessful campaign for Lowell City Council, Mehmed Ali has apparently turned his political talents to another purpose.
In this instance, the director of the Lowell National Historical Park's Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center turned his attention to ensuring that Dan Holin would not serve as interim facilitator of the Lowell Plan's new cultural committee, which is tasked with carrying out the recommendations of a consultant's study, commissioned by the Lowell Plan, which focused on improving Lowell's cultural economy.
Ali reportedly viewed Holin, executive director of the Concord-based Jericho Road Project, as an out-of-towner who would be inappropriate in that role -- an issue that surfaced during the committee's first meeting earlier this month.
Ali declined comment on the subject, but rumor has it he lobbied other committee members to oppose Holin, earning himself a rebuke from Lowell Plan President Jim Cook and national park Superintendent Michael Creasey, who has since replaced Ali as his representative on the committee.
Holin could not be reached. He continues to serve on the committee.
Cook declined comment.
Rosemary Noon, wife of UMass Lowell community-relations guru Paul Marion and former executive director of the precursor agency to the Cultural Organization of Lowell, has been tapped to oversee the committee's work.
TSONGAS ARENA General Manager Craig Gates' Dec. 21 appearance on the WUML 91.5 FM's Lowell Sunrise program featured some eye-opening remarks about the Lowell Devils minor league hockey franchise.
Gates asked to appear on the show to respond to City Councilor Armand Mercier, who the previous morning had argued that the city is losing too much money on the arena and would better off if struck a deal with UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan to give the facility to the university.
During his appearance, Gates said Mercier was one of the eight councilors who adopted the Lowell Devils lease in June 2006, which is now blamed for many of the arena's financial woes.
"Our biggest problem turning a profit is the Devils' 40 home games," Gates said. "The Devils don't do a good job bringing people in. We did turn a profit before the city gave the deal to the Devils and the Lock Monsters," he said, referring to the hockey franchise that preceded the Devils in Lowell. "I feel like the orphan child," Gates said. "No one wants you."
Councilors agreed to cut the Lock Monster's rent in half in 2004 and then further reduced the rent for the Devils in a last-ditch attempt to keep professional hockey in the Mill City.
"If it were up to me, I'd keep the River Hawks and give the Devils a map to wherever," Gates said.
THE ADDITION of Kellie Hebert to Lynch's administration marks the third person from the former Chelmsford town manager's staff to make the move to Lowell in the past year.
Besides Hebert, the assistant to the town manager in Chelmsford and the incoming human-relations director in Lowell, there's Andy Sheehan, the new assistant to the city manager and former Chelmsford community-development coordinator, and Donna McIntosh, Lynch's executive assistant in Chelmsford, who is doing the same job in Lowell.
All three saw their salaries boosted significantly by their new jobs with the Mill City.
The addition of Sheehan and McIntosh -- whose positions were created by a controversial budget vote in June that saw Councilors Edward "Bud" Caulfield, Armand Mercier and Rita Mercier dissent -- caused Lynch some political heat.
But to date no such stink has been raised over Hebert's hiring, which was announced Wednesday.
Perhaps that is because she is a Lowell resident who formerly worked for the city, though McIntosh also lives in Lowell. Sheehan lives in Acton.
TOMORROW MARKS the end of Edward Walsh's career as Lowell's Department of Public Works commissioner.
The popular and feisty Walsh may be 80, but the avid downhill skier likely won't be slowing down.
Walsh's friends have scheduled a party in his honor early next month at Mt. Pleasant Golf Club in Lowell.
He will be replaced as DPW commissioner by Assistant City Manager T.J. McCarthy, in a controversial staffing move that Lynch was able to push through during the same June budget deliberations that saw the establishment of Sheehan and McIntosh's positions.
At the time, Lynch had wanted to force Walsh's hand into retiring early as a cost-cutting move. According to Walsh, the manager tried to get him to take a random drug test which Walsh refused.
The DPW chief said he told Lynch he had never been asked to take one in all his years of public service to the city so he wasn't going to take one now. Lynch's actions infuriated Walsh supporters and prompted a group of them to ask Mike Lenzi to run for City Council. Lenzi is a longtime friend of Walsh's.
Lenzi, who was elected in November, downplays the Lynch-Walsh feud and said he ran for office to best serve the city's interest and nothing else.
ONORINA MALONEY, who resigned from the Groton town clerk position on Friday, and incoming Interim Town Clerk Michael Bouchard have something in common -- Sophie the dog.
Maloney, who liked making her office appear homey and welcoming to visitors, has had a stuffed animal resembling a small chocolate Lab named Sophie lying on a cushion underneath her desk. Upon her departure, another town worker has "adopted" Sophie.
Coincidentally, Bouchard's real dog's name is Sophie, too.
LITTLETON RESIDENT Jeffery Yates is now a permanent member of the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Yates, an architect, was appointed to the board last week, after serving as an alternate member for the past seven months.
"We're excited to welcome him (Yates), said ZBA Chairwoman Sherrill Gould. "He has extensive experience with planning and zoning matters and makes a wonderful contribution."
Yates replaces Chris Meier, who moved out of town.
The board's new alternate members include Cheryl Hollinger, Rod Stewart, Marc Saucier, and Matthew Field.
KARIN SWANFELDT, executive director of Ayer's Council on Aging this week said the expected cost of a 2,000-square-foot office and counseling space addition at the town senior center could cost nearly $1 million.
The construction estimate was just under $700,000 when Swanfeldt first proposed the idea in 2005.
Lowell architect Jeff Cook could have bid-ready plans ready by February but then Swanfeldt has to find funding -- not an easy task.
She's already started lobbying state Rep. Bob Hargraves and state Sen. Pam Resor.
Contributing to The Column this week were City Hall reporter Michael Lafleur, Statehouse Bureau Chief Hillary Chabot, Groton reporter Hiroko Sato, Littleton reporter Bridget Scrimenti, Ayer reporter Jack Minch and Sun Editor Jim Campanini.
Posted by Admin at January 2, 2008 9:08 AM
